Online Learning Update

Posted by Gisela Valencia, FIU

You visit a panda bear conservation base in China. You explore a historic cave on South Jeju Island. And you get lost in Tokyo’s streets. It sounds like a study abroad trip. But you can visit all these and more from the comfort of home thanks to a new online class centered on virtual reality. “Study and Travel East Asia through Virtual Reality (VR),” offered through the Asian Studies Program – part of the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs, is the first course of its kind at FIU. Using materials like VR glasses, smartphones and Youtube videos, students get to experience East Asia like never before. Students who may not be able to afford study abroad trips now have an opportunity to explore the region without breaking the bank and possibly prepare for a future trip to Asia.

https://news.fiu.edu/2017/08/drop-in-series-new-virtual-reality-course-brings-asia-to-students/114020

by eLearning Inside

Enrollment numbers at the university where I attended graduate school indicate a dramatic shift from classroom attendees to distance learners. So much, in fact, that the university recently made their biggest ever cut to staff and faculty positions. The reason was a downturn in student enrollment. The only area in the university still growing? Online learning. The same story is happening everywhere. So why has eLearning suddenly established so much traction at colleges and universities? Here’s some insight.

https://news.elearninginside.com/3-reasons-why-post-secondary-online-learning-is-absolutely-crushing-it/

http://www.educationdive.com/news/number-of-minorities-women-taking-cs-is-skyrocketing-thanks-to-stem-collab/448292/

By Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

The majority of millennials ages 18-34 (69 percent) say they learn more information from technology than from people, according to a new report from nonprofit leadership training organization Growing Leaders. In comparison, just 50 percent of surveyed adults ages 45 and up said the same. The online survey of 2,264 American adults ages 18 and older, conducted by Harris Poll, focused on technology’s role in learning as well as different generations’ preparation for adult life. The survey also identified a gender divide when it comes to technology and learning. Thirty-three percent of millennial males “strongly agreed” that they learn more from technology than from people, while 19 percent of millennial females said the same.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/08/02/report-most-millennials-learn-more-from-technology-than-from-people.aspx

by John Marques, Education Dive

Higher education, and certainly business education, has indeed established a strong focus on the “intelligence” part of the equation.  Unfortunately, the “character” component has too often been honored in the breach. So, as the dean of a business school, I have something of a hidden agenda. Without sounding grandiose, my vision is to transform current students into future leaders who possess a socially-conscious approach to doing business. I see a pedagogy that blends consciousness, spirituality and sustainability and thereby elevates business conduct within our system to a whole new level.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/what-schools-of-business-must-do-transform-students-into-conscious-leader/448246/

by Roger Riddell, Education Dive

Estimates released by researchers from New York University, the University of California San Diego, Google and blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis peg the cost of ransomware over the past two years to over $25 million paid by victims. Campus Technology reports that the team’s research looked at 300,000 files from over 30 types of ransomware, tracking the amount paid based on blockchain payments, with UCSD Computer Science and Engineering Ph.D. candidate Danny Yuxing Huang tracking the transfer of bitcoins from victims to ransomware operators to coin exchanges. The researchers say ransomware became a multi-million-dollar industry last year, with the lesser-known Locky being the first ransomware to bring in over $1 million in a month.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/in-2-years-ransomware-raked-in-an-estimated-25m/448480/

By Joshua Bolkan, Campus Technology

An assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University(CMU) is using Minecraft to teach her students about the properties of building materials. B. Reeja Jayan is using the game in her special topics course, “Materials and Their Processing for Mechanical Engineers,” by asking students to build games and rooms on the classroom server for their final projects. Jayan said it’s the first time the world-building game has been fully integrated with an engineering course at the university level. Minecraft allows players to explore and interact with a virtual world and build structures within it.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/08/02/carnegie-mellon-engineering-prof-teaches-materials-science-with-minecraft.aspx

by Jenny Darmody, Silicon Republic

While the tech sector is constantly fighting against the skills shortage and looking for the best talent, few areas struggle to fill its vacancies as much as cybersecurity. And for those in tech looking to upskill, gaining a certification in infosec seems like an obvious choice, given the fruitful job market. But, if you already have full-time work, it can be hard to find the time to upskill with a course that requires you to turn up to physical lectures, especially if they’re nowhere near where you work or live. That’s where online courses come in. While there are countless options that can be helpful for various budgets and skill levels, we’ve rounded up six to help get you started.

https://www.siliconrepublic.com/advice/online-cybersecurity-courses-upskill

by Kevin Gumienny, ATD

Time- and cost-effective ways to make e-learning usable for learners with and without disabilities… There’s recently been renewed attention to the need to make e-learning “accessible.” That is, the need to make e-learning as usable by those who have disabilities as it is by those without. So what’s the best way to ensure that your e-learning is accessible? And, given that anything that adds to course creation time also adds cost, how can it be done in a cost-effective manner? The most effective and efficient way to make e-learning accessible is to incorporate accessibility into your overall course development process from the beginning.

https://www.td.org/Publications/Magazines/TD/TD-Archive/2017/08/Elearning-for-All

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2017/08/07/georgia-tech-plans-extension-undergraduate-online-computer

By Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed

Why should we even talk about the U.S. News & World Report higher education rankings? Everybody hates them. Nobody that I know thinks they’ve done anything good for students, professors or schools. The answer is that I just can’t help myself. Wishing that the U.S. News college rankings would cease to exist will do nothing to mitigate their pernicious influence on our industry. We need to engage with this thing head-on. Still, I’m going to try to pick my battles. Rather than simply adding one more voice to the chorus of criticism about the validity of the overall U.S. News rankings, I’m going to focus on just one of the lists that that they publish. This is the Best Undergraduate Teaching rankings, which U.S. News publishes for both national universities and national liberal arts colleges. Josh Kim provides an alternative input-based methodology for the U.S. News & World Report best undergraduate teaching ranking.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/how-fix-‘us-news’-best-undergraduate-teaching-survey

By Jennifer Goodman, Inside Higher Ed

Melanie Finn, elementary school teacher in East Granby, Conn., enrolled in a program at Drexel University, her grandfather’s alma mater, that allowed her to participate in a week of free training and demo programs to experience the ins and outs of virtual learning. In March, she took part in the one-week Drexel University Online Test Drive course, which allowed her to interact with professors, grad students and alumni. She completed a virtual scavenger hunt, uploaded a paper and got mock feedback on her work. The test drive helped her realize she would be comfortable learning in an online setting, and she enrolled in a 10-week online educational policy class at Drexel just a few weeks later. “It was a really good way for me to see if an online learning program would be something I could manage,” she said. Finn’s experience is similar to that of many of Drexel’s online students who participate in the test drive and end up enrolling, according to Susan Aldridge, president of Drexel University Online, which has an enrollment of 7,300.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2017/08/02/drexels-test-drive-allows-students-try-out-online-learning

by Jamaal Abdul-Alim, Diverse Education

American colleges and universities are an “essential part of our nation’s diplomatic outreach” and critical to building the cross-cultural relationships necessary to solve the world’s most pressing problems, a U.S. State Department official said at an international education forum Tuesday. “The citizens of just one nation alone will never overcome our global challenges,” Thomas A. Shannon, Jr., U.S. Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the State Department, told attendees at the forum. Thomas A. Shannon, Jr., is U.S. Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the State Department. Economic opportunity, good governance, energy security and global security can only be advanced by committed individuals, institutions and nations working together to find solutions,” Shannon said. “It’s all about partnerships.” Shannon made his remarks on the second day of the eighth annual forum of EducationUSA, a State Department network of over 400 international student advising centers in more than 170 countries.

http://diverseeducation.com/article/99678/

by Kiran Gautam, My Republica

Online Education is one of the most necessary yet undermined topics in the field of education. Online education is the process of attending college through internet. It basically means that a student can sit in his computer and earn college equivalent degree without even leaving their room. As marvelous as it sounds, online education courses are far from being taken in by the students. The traditional belief of education by person to person interaction seems to be one of many problems. The world population is ever increasing, while schools and colleges are getting crowded. The concept of mass education compromises the quality of education. Students also travel to their respective colleges in their vehicles. The gasoline demands are forever increasing and with the growing population, it is set to get even higher than ever.

http://www.myrepublica.com/news/24728/

by Laurence Bradford, Forbes

Machine learning is exploding, with smart algorithms being used everywhere from email to smartphone apps to marketing campaigns. Translation: if you’re looking for an in-demand career, setting yourself up with the skills to work with smart machines/artificial intelligence is a good move. With input from Florian Douetteau, CEO of Dataiku, here are some things you can start doing today to position yourself for a future career in machine learning.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurencebradford/2017/07/28/8-ways-you-can-succeed-in-a-machine-learning-career/

by Autumn A. Arnett, Education Dive

The K-12 system is not the only system facing high turnover at the top; higher ed is also dealing with an uptick in hasty departures and presidential shuffling. With mounting pressure across the education spectrum to do more with less, and increased demands of the job as funding for support staff is cut, the trend should come as no surprise. Presidents and principals are expected to raise academic performance metrics, fundraise, navigate tricky political systems, and on and on. The key for district leaders as well as boards of trustees is to provide ample support and professional development for school leaders, but also to understand no transformation will take place in a year or two.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/high-turnover-at-the-top-continues-to-plague-total-education-spectrum/448350/

by Pranay Parab, NDTV 360

Did you know that you can study from Harvard right from your home? Going to Harvard Business School is a dream for many but only around 900 students make it to the famed institute every year. However, the institute has an online learning program called HBX, featuring relatively short courses that you can sign up for. Raj Desai, who studied at HBX, and has since founded a Hyderabad-based startup called School of Accelerated Learning, says, “HBX is not like other online learning programs. You have to apply for it and get selected for it.” The selection process, Desai says, adds a lot of value to the certificate, which already has the Harvard brand name on it.

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/internet/features/harvard-business-school-online-learning-hbx-india-1730267

By Matt Kendall, Nearshore

In the battle against regional IT talent shortage, e-learning platforms and massive open online courses (MOOCs) are fast becoming Latin America’s secret weapon, attracting the attention of wannabe programmers, schools, governments, and global investors alike. As digital inclusion increases, e-learning is quickly creating a level playing field for students and professionals in the region, where many of the population lack access to high-quality educational amenities. Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Mexico are currently among the leading adopters of e-learning, with schools being the major market in Brazil, and corporations and government being the main consumers in Argentina and Mexico, respectively.

http://www.nearshoreamericas.com/e-learning-latin-america-solution-talent-shortage/

by ALICE BONASIO, The Next Web

Another trend that will undoubtedly affect the sector is that as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies improve at an ever-faster pace it will enable much better provisions for personalized learning. But as fantastic as our access to knowledge these days would seem to those born a couple of generations before, it will likely pale in comparison to the next wave of immersive technology. Looking to the not-too-distant future, we can already envisage how Virtual and Mixed Reality technologies will increasingly be incorporated into the online learning strategy of major Universities institutions help to make such distance courses more immersive and engaging, blending the real and virtual world seamlessly and thus vastly increasing our ability to learn.

https://thenextweb.com/contributors/2017/07/19/now-moocs-mainstream-online-learning-go-next/

by Roger Riddell, Education Dive

According to a new report from The Learning House, Inc. and Aslanian Market Research, “The Online College Students 2017: Comprehensive Data on Demands and Preferences,” online students want more interaction with instructors and fellow students. The survey included 1,500 students who were currently enrolled in, recent graduates of, or giving serious consideration to online programs, and more than 50% said that interaction is important, while around 25% said more interaction would improve quality and experience. The report recommends that schools improve their programs by better reflecting students’ career and educational goals, place more emphasis on responsiveness from admissions, and adapt approaches to accommodate mobile tech — as 80% of respondents said they used their device during their search for a school, while 40% said they used a mobile device to access coursework.

http://www.educationdive.com/news/new-report-highlights-importance-of-interaction-in-online-learning/447661/

By Chuck Chiang, Business in Vancouver

We’ve reached a tipping point, warns industry consultant. While Canada’s bricks-and-mortar institutions have not seen too much impact from online courses and schools, the figurative “tipping point” for students’ acceptance of online education appears to have been reached, says Mike Henniger, vice-president of sales and marketing at ICEF, an international education marketing and recruitment strategy consultancy. Examples include Udacity and MicroMasters, which offer free or paid courses in certain sectors where employers demand a certain skill set. Udacity even guarantees students will find a job upon completing the online program or receive a full refund.

https://www.biv.com/article/2017/7/online-learning-uptake-international-education/